Rules

AIIA intends to distinguish, promote and support the technological talent while reinforcing Altice as an innovative company.

The aim of the initiative is to award projects from finalist students and startups in the incubation phase, who present innovative projects in technological areas relevant to Altice International’s core business (such as AI/ML, Extended Reality, IoT, Smart Cities, Smart Living, Big Data, eHealth, Digital Content, Future Networks, Over the Top services, security, blockchain, etc).

It also awards projects that promote digital inclusion and accessibility to communication, particularly in school, professional and social contexts, providing a set of services, solutions, or technological initiatives for people with disabilities. This category is powered by Fundação Altice Portugala partner of AIIA, and will be called “INCLUI”.

Finally, as part of the partnership between Altice Labs and the National Innovation Agency (ANI), AIIA is also promoting the Born From Knowledge (BfK) Awards, which aims to distinguish Portuguese “knowledge-born” projects, as well as Portuguese startups that stand out the most in R&D activities. More details are available here.

The AIIA initiative intends to recognize innovative projects, from three categories:

• A) Academia: PhD students only from Portuguese universities who have presented their thesis recently (2021 or 2022) or intend to present it in the current year (2022);
• B) Startups: incorporated startups in early stages (created after the 1st of January 2019) with offices in the geographies where Altice operates – Portugal, France, Israel, USA or Dominican Republic – or offices in one of the countries of the European Union;

• C) “INCLUI” by Fundação Altice PT: All the eligible projects for the previous categories (academia and startups) and Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS), developing and promoting digital solutions, mobile applications, or online platforms for digital inclusion and communication of people with disabilities.

Note, each entity may only apply to one of the above categories (AIIA – Academia, AIIA – Startups and “INCLUI”).

The following individuals or groups are not allowed to participate in the AIIA:

• Employees of any of the companies of the Altice Group;
• Any individual who is chosen to be part of the applications analysis and evaluation teams.

Regarding the “BfK” initiative, only the Portuguese students and Portuguese Startups shortlisted in the above mentioned A) and B) categories are eligible to receive this award.

The following dates should be taken into account by all candidates:

• May 31, 2022: release date;
• September 30, 2022 (23h59 GMT): submission deadline;
• October 03 until November 07, 2022: validation of all the received applications and evaluation of all the valid applications;
• November 10, 2022: shortlist closing and announcement;

• November 29, 2022: pitch to the Grand Jury and Winner’s ceremony.

The awards for the three winning projects from the three categories are:

Startup award – only 1st place:

• Prize money of € 50.000 (estimated value, since income withholding taxes, local taxes or taxes related to international bank transfers may apply, according with Portuguese tax law).

• Together with the prize money, it may be offered to the winning startup the possibility to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Altice to perform a proof-of-concept (PoC) to evolve its project technically and pre-commercially. The duration period for the PoC will be 9 months, extendable, if both parts wish so, up to 12 months.

Academy award – only 1st place:

• Prize money of € 25.000 (estimated value, since income withholding taxes, local taxes or taxes related to international bank transfers may apply, according with Portuguese tax law).

Inclui by Fundação Altice Portugal:

• Prize money of €20.000 (estimated value, since income withholding taxes, local taxes or taxes related to international bank transfers may apply, according with Portuguese tax law).

The winner of BfK Award will receive “The tree of knowledge” piece of art and a certificate.

All the applications must be submitted online by using the form provided on the AIIA website. Submission by any other means will not be considered unless there are proven situations of unavailability/error in the form whose causes are attributable to Altice Labs.

Regarding the information to be submitted, it is mandatory:

To be in the English language;

To use the template available here, filled in with the required information;

• Considerations about links to other documents:

• • For Academy projects: it must be inserted in the above-mentioned template a link to a valid document proving you are, or recently were, a PhD student in a Portuguese university;
  • For Startups projects: it must be inserted in the above-mentioned template the “Código de Acesso à Certidão Permanente”, or the link to “Kbis”, or the link to other similar legal document proving the company was already incorporated in one of the countries mentioned in section 3;

• • All categories: links to any other documents you consider relevant to prove the value of the project may be included in the powerpoint presentation above mentioned.

By applying to AIIA, candidates fully agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth by this contest rules. If you don’t agree with these terms and conditions, you must not submit the application. Candidates must also be aware that:

• The applications and documents submitted will not be returned to the candidates;
• Altice Labs reserves the right to update AIIA’s regulation without previous notice;

• All shortlisted candidates will be informed by e-mail in case such changes directly affect them;
• Altice Labs reserves the right to cancel the AIIA by notifying all candidates by e-mail in the event of force majeure or in cases where applications submitted do not meet the minimum quality standards or creativity requirements;
• The cancellation mentioned previously does not confer the right to the candidates for any compensation;
• Travel and accommodation expenses related to the pitch session and winners ceremony (to be held on the same day), as well as other costs regarding the participation in this initiative, must be supported by the shortlisted candidates and will not be supported by Altice;
• Requests for clarifications about the AIIA should be addressed exclusively to innovationaward@alticelabs.com.

The projects submitted will be evaluated according to the following criteria and weights. 

The evaluation scale to be used will be 0 to 5. 

Startup Category 

1. Creativity and innovation – 50% 

1. Business model and growth potential – 30% 

1. Impact on society – 20% 

Academy Category 

1. Creativity and innovation – 60% 

1. Business model and growth potential – 15% 

1. Impact on society – 25% 

Submitted projects will be valued, among others, for the ability to: 

• Engage customers by delivering delightful, personalized experiences based on data and content as well as by allowing the convergence of functionalities among different devices; 
• Enrich services through premium content offerings; 
• Connect customers to brands through cutting-edge digital advertising platforms/applications; 

• Offer a truly unique value proposition, data-driven, measurable and multiscreen experience to brands, agencies and the media industry; 
• Transform business models: building innovative products/UIs based on actual customer behaviors and diversified business models; 
• Optimize corporate operations, digitalize key customer processes and channels. 

“INCLUI” by Fundação Altice PT Category 

1. Creativity and innovation – 30% 

1. Business model and growth potential – 20% 

1. Impact on society – 50% 

Evaluation criteria for the BfK are available here.

All applications will be first validated to make sure they are eligible (Section 3) and have the mandatory documentation listed above (Section 6).
All valid applications will then be evaluated by an Evaluation Committee that will be responsible for identifying the nine finalists (up to three per category).

The shortlisted candidates, by category, will defend their idea in a 5-minute pitch to the AIIA Grand Jury that will then be responsible for selecting the three AIIA winners (one per category), on the date indicated in Section 4.

Regarding the BfK Awards, all Portuguese shortlisted candidates are automatically qualified and will be considered for evaluation by ANI. ANI will be responsible for selecting the Winner of the BfK Award.

The Grand Jury will be responsible for the evaluation on the pitch day. Besides including some key persons from the Altice Group, it will also be constituted by relevant personalities from the corporate, entrepreneur, research and social media ecosystems from the geographies considered in each edition of the award. It will also include a member of ANI. 
The Evaluation and Monitoring Committee main function is to ensure the proper functioning of the AIIA as well as to validate and evaluate all applications submitted. The Evaluation and Monitoring Committee will be constituted by members from the Altice Group. 
The deliberations of the Evaluation and Monitoring Committee and of the Grand Jury are final and binding in all its aspects and may not be disputed. 

The shortlisted projects will be firstly announced by an e-mail sent to all the candidates, on the date mentioned in Section 4. They will then be publicly announced at least in AIIA website and Altice social networks.

Candidates from the shortlisted projects need to confirm their interest. In case of impossibility to attend the pitch moment, the vacancy will be filled by the next candidate in the ranking. Failure to attend the pitch will be considered a project elimination factor and, therefore, candidates for finalist projects must undertake to be duly represented at the said ceremony.

The winners of AIIA, as well as BfK award will be known by:

• Public announcement;
• Publication on the award website and Altice social networks;
• Other online channels.

Title to copyright and industrial property rights over the candidates’ projects remains with the candidates, as well as all associated technical documentation and are not transferred to Altice Labs or to any of the companies of the Altice Group.

Each candidate will be responsible for the protection of any potential copyright and industrial property rights related to their application and the documents that comprise it. Altice Labs and/or the companies of the Altice Group will not be liable for any failure of the candidates to protect any copyright and/or industrial property related to the applications.

Within the scope of the AIIA initiative, collecting and processing of personal data of the candidates in the application process is necessary to carry out all procedures inherent to the participation in the contest. Altice Labs undertakes to comply with the Personal Data legislation in force, namely Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Portuguese execution Law 58/2019.

By completing the application form, the candidates expressly acknowledge that the processing of the data entered is necessary for the above purposes. All data provided will be treated as confidential, stored and processed only for the purpose for which it was collected, and made available only to the person(s) responsible for dealing with it. Personal data will not be passed on to third parties or published or made available for general access without the candidate’s express written consent. Candidates are granted the rights applicable by law, namely, rights of access, rectification, restriction of processing and erasure. Personal data referred to above will be stored for the period of time strictly necessary for the purposes for which the personal data was processed and will be erased when no longer necessary.

You are granted all the rights applicable by law, namely, rights of access, rectification, restriction of processing and erasure. You can exercise your rights by email (innovationaward@alticelabs.com) or by a written communication to Altice Labs to the following address: Rua Engº José Ferreira Pinto Basto, 3810-106 Aveiro, Portugal. You can also contact the Data Protection Officer for matters relating to the processing of personal data to the following email: DPOAlticePortugal@telecom.pt

For further information please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Each candidate declares and warrants that:

• The application submitted complies with the requirements of originality and has not been plagiarized and that the information and data it provides are true, accurate and are not encumbered in any way;
• The application and all accompanying documents and information do not infringe any third-party rights, including copyrights and/or industrial property rights, and comply with applicable laws and regulations;
• The application does not contain any viruses or other potentially harmful programs or other material or information;
• It will act at all times lawfully, ethically and in good faith, and comply with all applicable laws and regulations;
• It authorizes, free of charge, Altice Labs or any of the companies of the Altice Group to use, totally or partially, its name, its image, animated or not, and the reference to the project in the events carried out under the AIIA, for the purpose of promoting and disseminating the projects developed, in any part of the world and by any means, as well as its insertion in promotions and promotional materials of Altice Labs or any other company or brand of the Altice Group.
• Candidate undertakes to indemnify Altice Labs against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses suffered or incurred by Altice Labs or Altice Group companies arising out of or in connection with any third-party claim made against Altice Labs or Altice Group companies arising from breach of the warranties above.